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Everyone is invited to a coaching clinic scheduled for Saturday the 1st of August at Port natal School, Umbilo, Durban (gps coord: s29.52818 e30.58951). The clinic will run from 08H00 till 14H00 and will cover all disciplines in track & field. The program will be split into 4 sessions which will allow attendees and athletes to get exposure to more than one discipline or group of events. Anyone is welcome to attend the clinic and you do not have to belong to a club or be an active coach. So whether you are a coach at a club/school, teacher, parent or interested in getting involved, this is the place to be. We are also inviting/encouraging athletes and scholars to attend as well, as they can participate in the practical sessions.

The program will be facilitated by various ASA accredited coaches. The final program and list of facilitators will be confirmed in due course. Entry fees for attending are R75.00 for adults and R30.00 for scholars.

The event is hosted by CKS athletics and you can contact Clyde Kinloch on 082 572 3408 or via email on clyde.kinloch@gmail.com to book your spot or for any enquiries about the event.

The 2015 IAAF world youth championship is currently being held in Cali in Colombia till the 19th of July. To see all the news, results, start list and other information. This is a bi-annual event for 16 and 17 year old athletes and for many athletes the start of their athletics career. South Africa does have a number of athletes competing at the event.

The Herculis meeting ended, as is tradition, with a pyrotechnic show on the infield. But the real fireworks at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on Friday (17) came on the track about 50 minutes earlier. Genzebe Dibaba achieved what many had believed to be unachievable, breaking the 1500m world record* with a time of 3:50.07. Qu Yunxia’s mark of 3:50.46, set at the 1993 National Games, was considered to be one of the toughest world records on the books. But in a perfectly judged race, world indoor 800m champion Chanelle Price paced Dibaba through 400m in 1:00.31 and 800m in 2:04.52 before leaving the Ethiopian to finish.

Dibaba still had European champion Sifan Hassan for company as she passed the bell in 2:50.3, but the two-time world indoor champion kicked hard. With 100m left to run, it became clear that Dibaba was, at the very least, going to get close to the world record. But she charged for the line, crossing it in 3:50.07 to become the fastest 1500m runner in history.

In a race of great depth, six women ran faster than four minutes. Hassan clocked a national record of 3:56.05 in second, while Rowbury broke the North American record with 3:56.29 in third. 2011 world champion Jenny Simpson recorded her second-fastest time ever with 3:57.30 in fourth.

Britain’s Laura Muir and Maureen Koster of the Netherlands were fifth and sixth, smashing their PBs with 3:58.66 and 3:59.79 respectively.

“The pacemaker did a great job,” said Dibaba. “I’m the first athlete from Ethiopia to break the world record in the 1500m; that is amazing.

“I think Tirunesh will be happy, all of Ethiopia will be happy,” added Dibaba of her older sister, who recently gave birth to her first child. “I knew from the beginning that I could break the record and I feel like I can still improve. I’ll try to break the 5000m world record after the World Championships in Beijing.”

Earlier in the evening, Asbel Kiprop had come within one second of the world record in the men’s 1500m. It didn’t count towards the Diamond Race, but it had a big impact on the world all-time list.

Returning to the Stade Louis II, the stadium that has played host to his three fastest times, two-time world champion Asbel Kiprop made his intentions clear from the outset.

He clung to the pacemakers, who passed through 800m in 1:50.37. Double world and Olympic champion Mo Farah was leading the chasing pack, but at the bell he was more than 10 metres behind his Kenyan rival.

Kiprop held his form on the final lap and continued to pull away from the rest of the field, clocking 3:26.69 to become the third-fastest 1500m runner in history behind Hicham El Guerrouj and Bernard Lagat, breaking El Guerrouj’s meeting record in the process.

In one of the deepest 1500m races in history with a record four men running faster than 3:29 and 10 men running faster than 3:31, Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi clocked a lifetime best of 3:28.75 to finish second.

Morocco’s 2012 world indoor champion Abdalaati Iguider also passed Farah on the last lap to clock 3:28.79, while Farah finished fourth in 3:28.93. Nick Willis broke his own Oceanian record with 3:29.66 in fifth and the relatively unheralded Kenyan champion Elijah Manangoi took five seconds off his best to clock 3:29.67 in sixth.

Wayde Van Niekerk made a little bit of history at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris when he became the first African to dip below 44 seconds for one lap of the track, when he ran 43.96 on Saturday the 4th of July. The 22-year-old South African not only snatched his first victory in the Diamond Race but also announced himself as a genuine world title contender as he beat London 2012 Olympic Games champion Kirani James, handing the Grenadian his first defeat of the year and moving up to 10th on the all-time list for the event. With van Niekerk on his outside, James strained every sinew in lane four to make up ground in the home straight but had to settle for second in 44.17. US champion David Verburg was well back in third in 44.81.

On a night of five world leads on the track but a series of disappointments for the French fans, at least sprinter Jimmy Vicaut was able to send the crowd home happy after matching the European 100m record.

The latter clocked 9.81, his quickest time for four years, to win a race that was meant to feature his fellow-Jamaican Usain Bolt.

Mike Rodgers took third for the USA in 9.99, ensuring three men ran under 10 seconds for third time this year.

Vicaut’s area record was the third of the night, following van Niekerk and Evan Jager, who set a North American record in the men’s 3000m steeplechase.

The results of the steeplechase will show another world lead for 2014 Diamond Race winner Jairus Birech as the Kenyan notched up another victory, but the bald facts don’t tell half the story for Birech was well beaten before the final barrier by the outstanding Jager who had kicked away over the last 600m.

Just as the US champion looked as if he would claim a famous victory, he clattered the last hurdle and tumbled flat on the track, allowing his long-time shadow to streak past for an unlikely victory in 7:58.83, a meeting record and the night’s first world-leading performance.

How close Jager came to claiming that mark for himself. He had dragged Birech away from the rest with three laps to go and opened a five-metre lead with 600 metres left.

Birech closed briefly before the bell but the American was having the run of his life and streaked away down the back straight and over the final water jump.

Flat out

But just when he had the finish line in sight, his form failed him.

The pony-tailed runner earned a pretty good consolation prize, though, as he picked himself up to finish second in 8:00.45, smashing his own US and North American records.

“The stupid mistake cost me the sub-eight minutes, one of my big goals,” rued Jager afterwards. “Of course, I’m happy I made the Kenyans worried. I train for that. Today, I proved I can compete for the top position at the World Championships.”

There were two more world leads just a few minutes later as the ever consistent Eunice Sum took her 800m personal best down below 1:57 for the first time, and the irrepressible Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce blasted to 10.74 in the 100m, 0.05 quicker than her Jamaican championships win a week ago and just 0.04 away from her national record.

Sum supreme

Sum clocked 1:56.99 after Ilona Usovich had taken her through 400m in 56.33.

The Kenyan followed the Belarus pacer to 500m before kicking for home chased by Cuba’s Rose Mary Amanza who also ran a personal best with 1:57.70.

Selina Buchel took more than two-tenths from her best when runnng a Swiss record of 1:57.95 in third while, in what was surely the best 800m of the year so far, there were best as well for the US pair of Molly Ludlow in fourth and Chanelle Price in fifth, with 1:58.68 and 1:59.10 respectively.

Fraser-Pryce was pressed hard by Blessing Okagbare who had beaten her easily in Shanghai back in May.

This time the Jamaican was more than a match for the Nigerian and thrust ahead to win by 0.06.

USA’s English Gardner was well beaten into third in 10.97.

The crowd barely had time to catch breath before another world lead fell in the men’s 1500m as Silas Kiplagat outkicked Ayanleh Souleiman to take his second Diamond League victory of the year in 3:30.12.

The Djibouti runner was just 0.05 behind his Kenyan rival while Ronald Kwemoi dipped ahead of Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi, 3:30.43 to 3:30.50.

Orlando Ortega produced his first sub-13 second performance to win the men’s 110m hurdles in yet another world-leading time.

The Cuban came late to overtake David Oliver on the line in 12.94 as the world champion also dipped under 13 seconds for the first time in 2015.

He thrust his chest out to stop the clock at 12.98 while Sergey Shubenkov took 0.03 from his own Russian record in third with 13.06.

Zuzana Hejnova looked to be approaching her pre-injury form from two years ago in the women’s 400m hurdles. The Czech 2013 world champion ran a season’s best and fell just short of the world lead with 53.76.

Behind her two athletes clocked national records: Sara Petersen lowering Denmark’s national mark to 53.99 while Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya was third in 54.12.

Everyone is invited to a coaching clinic scheduled for Saturday the 1st of August at Port natal School, Umbilo, Durban (gps coord: s29.52818 e30.58951). The clinic will run from 08H00 till 14H00 and will cover all disciplines in track & field. The program will be split into 4 sessions which will allow attendees and athletes to get exposure to more than one discipline or group of events. Anyone is welcome to attend the clinic and you do not have to belong to a club or be an active coach. So whether you are a coach at a club/school, teacher, parent or interested in getting involved, this is the place to be. We are also inviting/encouraging athletes and scholars to attend as well, as they can participate in the practical sessions.

The program will be facilitated by various ASA accredited coaches. The final program and list of facilitators will be confirmed in due course. Entry fees for attending are R75.00 for adults and R30.00 for scholars.

The event is hosted by CKS athletics and you can contact Clyde Kinloch on 082 572 3408 or via email on clyde.kinloch@gmail.com to book your spot or for any enquiries about the event.

Please take note that that the winter track & field meeting scheduled for Friday the 19th of June at Kingspark in Durban, has been cancelled. This is due to the closure of Kingspark by the municipality for planned upgrade maintenance. Please contact the KZNA office at 031 312 9374 if you have any enquiries about the cancelled event.

South African sprinting ace Wayde van Niekerk blitzed to a new national record in the men’s 400m at the New York Diamond League meeting on Saturday.
Van Niekerk returned to the venue where he first smashed the national mark in a time of 44.38 seconds to shave 0.14 off his previous best, clocking 44.24. The Free State athlete’s time is the third this season, with only Granada’s Kirani James’ times of 43.95 and 44.22 faster than Van Niekerk.

Kirani James is currently the 2015 world leading athlete in the men 400m event. James is one of only nine athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels and David Storl) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event. His personal best is a 43.74 which he ran in 2014. This year he already top the rankings with the best 3 times thus far (43.95 the world lead). Amazingly he is still only 22 years old.

Athletics South Africa has announced the team that will represent South Africa at the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championship. The event will be held in Cali, Colombia, from the 15th to the 19th of July 2015. The team comprises of 27 athletes, made up of 17 boys and 10 girls.

Sprinting sensation Anaso Jobodwana produced a silver-medal run in the 200m at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo on Thursday.
The South African record holder in the half-lap sprint finished in second place in a time of 20.39 with Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre taking first place in 20.21 while Richard Kilty of the United Kingdom bagged third in 20.54.

Jobodwana improved on his mark at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, United States two weeks ago when he posted a time of 20.04 seconds to shave 0.02 seconds off the record he set in the Cayman Islands on May 16.

CLICK HERE to view HIGHLIGHTS
South African javelin queen Sunette Viljoen finished in second place with a best heave of 64.36m with Marharyta Dorozhon of Israel claiming the gold with a throw of 64.56m.

Olympic champion Barbora Špotáková of the Czech Republic finished third place with 64.10m.

Meanwhile, South African long jumpers Khotso Mokoena and Zarck Visser missed out on podium spots with the duo finishing in fifth and sixth place respectively with neither leaping further than eight metres on the night.

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IAAF Competition Rules

To keep up to date with all the latest rules & regulations that governs athletics worldwide, you can view and/or download the IAAF Competition Rule book

IAAF Rules: The Referee

The referee manual is a practical resource to explain athletics rules. It gives a definition of a rule together with some practical examples. The focus is on assisting the referee/official. A very useful resource for athletes and coaches. Familiarize yourself with your discipline and download the IAAF Referee Rule book